The Days
by Depphead
Summary: A ship finally arrives...but something is wrong.
1. Miracle

It was the happiest sight in the world. A ship. A ship that sent out many boats that were now heading towards the shore. The first person to spot it was Walt, who had been playing with Vincent that morning. There were gray clouds covering the entire sky, but the temperature was moderate with no visible raindrops. As he raised his arm to toss the ball out towards the ocean, the most remarkable sight in the world caught his vision. The gray silhouette of something on the near horizon.

"LOOK LOOK!" he screamed. People murmured and whispered as they gathered around the young boy, who was still pointing outward with a shaking arm. Vincent barked a few times. "IT'S A SHIP!" someone finally screamed. Cheers exploded throughout the crowd as people hugged, kissed and some even dropped to their knees and cried. Walt sprinted back up to the caves. "A SHIP!" he cried to the startled people of the caves; Charlie, Claire, Jack, Kate and a few others. With confusion heavy on their faces, they crowded around him.

"What!"

"A ship! Really!"

"Where!"

Walt pointed out towards the beach. "The ship…it might come here…just come down to the beach!" He ran back that way, as everyone scrambled to get their few precious belongings, and followed him shortly after. By this time, all 46 survivors were eagerly gathered on the beach, waving and screaming, doing anything to get the ships' attention. "DOES ANYONE HAVE A SIGNAL OF SOME KIND?" Jack shouted, standing in front of the crowd.

"I've got a trumpet!" someone shouted. A boy, no more than 15 or 16 darted from the crowd down the beach. He soon returned with a black case and presented it to Jack. "It's not really mine…I found it in the wreckage. I wanted to learn when we got rescued." Jack smiled and patted the kid on the shoulder. "DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO PLAY THIS!" Jack said, addressing the crowd again. A hand shot up. "I do!" Charlie Pace stumbled excitedly down from inside the crowd. Jack gave him an incredulous look. "Ok, ok," Charlie said. "I don't know how to 'play' it, but I did take lessons when I was about 12. I'm sure I can still blow on it enough to make noise!" Jack sighed and thrust the case into Charlie's arms, who opened the case, assembled the horn and held it up to his lips. "Close ya ears," he shouted to the crowd, and blew hard into the trumpet, producing the most god-awful noise anyone had ever heard. He stopped to take a breath.

"I hate to say this, but I don't think they heard you," Jack said, his hands still clamped over his ears. Charlie lifted the trumpet to his lips and blew as hard as he possibly could this time, until he turned a violent (most likely unhealthy) shade of neon pink. A bright orange light streaked up from the ship, acknowledging the castaways' presence. Charlie was still blowing, although not as hard, apparently not having seen the flare. "CHARLIE,CHARLIE!" Jack shouted, running to him. He grabbed the trumpet away from Charlie's mouth, who collapsed into the sand. Jack propped Charlie up, as he began to regain consciousness. "I think…they heard you," Jack chuckled, helping Charlie to his feet. Charlie walked over to Claire.

"We're going to be rescued," Charlie said to Claire, hugging her tightly. He was so excited, he was shaking like a scared Chihuahua. A single tear rolled down her rosy cheek. "I know, Charlie," she said with the most beautiful smile he'd ever seen. He gripped her hand and they watched the ship together, with the uttermost hope of seeing civilization again. Charlie began to cry; they really were going home. No more dreams, no more wishing. It was reality.

Sawyer distanced himself from the crowd, his long hair whipping in the wind. Kate walked up to him. "Happy to be going home?" She said. He looked at her. "Ahh, you know it, Freckles," Sawyer said with that irresistible Southern smile. "What do you want the most when you get there?" She asked, coming closer. He laughed and looked at her. "A beer." She rolled her eyes and smiled. "Of course. I'm going to go check on Jack." She tromped back over to Jack.

"Can you believe it?" She whispered to him. He put his arm around her shoulder. "Nope." Jack glanced over at Sawyer, who was staring daggers through him, quickly looked away. Jack sighed. "What are you going to do when we get back?" He said to Kate, squeezing her slightly. She looked up at him. "I'll probably have to go back to court; maybe jail. I'll try my best to keep in touch with you…" she faded off to an almost inaudible tone, and quivered slightly as if she was crying. Jack turned his head and gently kissed the top of hers. "Who knows…maybe they've forgotten all about you." Who even knew what time it was anymore? How many days, weeks, months, years have passed? By now it seemed like they crashed yesterday. Sometimes it felt like a million years ago. A million painful years.


	2. Reality

Finally, the boats began to pull up onshore. The castaways remained motionless, big smiles on everyone's faces. A man with thin graying hair stepped off the rubber boat. He wore a blue-and-red windbreaker, dress slacks and some kind of informal shoes. He looked around and sighed sadly. Jack's expression dropped, as everyone looked around in confusion. He walked back a few steps to the boat. "Radio back to the ship," he said to a man wearing a white uniform with a red cross on his chest. "Tell them we have found flight 815.…There are no apparent survivors." The man held up a military walkie-talkie and did as he was told.

The castaways murmured to each other in confusion. Jack began to walk over to the man. "Excuse me, sir," he said. "Do you not see all these people?" He waved his arm broadly to the confused group. The man looked right past Jack. Suddenly, the world began to change. The tents and various camps around disappeared, as the fuselage reappeared. Everything looked as if it had….just crashed? Hot tears welled up in Jack's eyes as he looked back to his fellow survivors. Several men and women were crying. Charlie was consoling Claire, while trying to hide his tears. Kate looked absolutely dumbstruck. And Sawyer…Sawyer continued not to face the crowd. He stood facing the wind, not a care in the world. Or so it seemed. More men arrived in boats. Jack attempted to talk to them all; with no avail. Charlie and Boone tried to help; but nothing was working.

"We can't be…." Charlie whispered.

"I don't know anything right now," Jack replied. "No one does." The men who arrived seemed to walk around as if in a sped up video, zooming past the castaways, no more than blurs. Everything else was in slow motion. The rain began to fall gently. Charlie walked around amidst the workers and stared darkly as they uncovered the area near the bathroom and pulled his own body out. He was quite bloody around the chest area, and had a black eye. Charlie's fists clenched so hard, he drew blood. "Oh God…" he heard a man's voice say from behind them. Charlie turned around to see them pull a piece of the plane off of Claire. "She was with child…" Except for a trickle of dried blood going down her temple, you would have thought she was OK. Charlie dropped to his knees and screamed into the rain. A hand gently rested on his shoulder. He looked up into the smiling face of Claire. "Charlie…" she whispered. "It's ok." Charlie's face was red and tearstained. "Love Claire…" he said. "Don't you get it! We're...we're all…" he broke off into sobs. She knelt down beside him. "I know. That's why my baby never came." He got up and wiped his tears and stared into her big blue eyes. Somehow he knew everything was going to be ok. She pulled his head closer and closer until they began to kiss passionately.

Jack and the others had spread out, surveying this new horror. He came across Kate, who was watching them pull Sawyer's lifeless body from the wreckage; his lip was bleeding quite badly as was his forehead. She let out a few tears as the men walked within inches of her with Sawyer. She reached out and stroked his cheek one last time. She ran away after they placed him in a bag, over farther down to a more isolated section of beach. She was staring out into the ocean wistfully, when a strong pair of arms gently wrapped themselves around her. "Sawyer," she said.

"Got that right, Freckles." he hugged her tighter; she started to quiver as if she was crying. "I'm so sorry," he whispered in her ear. "Why are you sorry? …it didn't have anything to do with you." Sawyer chuckled softly. "Sorry that I didn't meet you sooner." Sawyer went and sat right where the surf touched the sand, Kate joined him. She curled up in his lap, and he held her as the clouds began to clear, warming them both.

Jack looked around. Sayid and Shannon kissing, Charlie and Claire kissing, Kate and…Sawyer kissing. He stared out into the ocean; wishing this was only a dream. Locke walked up beside him. "Ready to go?" he asked. Jack looked at him, confused. "Go…" Locke nodded. "Yep….you know." he said, motioning upward with his hands. Jack looked over behind him at Charlie, Claire, Sun, Jin, Walt, Michael, Hurley, Rose, Boone, Shannon, Sayid, Sawyer and Kate. They stood together, radiant and strong. Jack burst into tears. Locke joined the group. "Where are the others?" Jack asked. Locke looked at him. "Maybe they were never really here." He motioned for Jack to join them. Jack looked at the sea and the stars one last time.

Everything began to fade away. Nothing was left. Time had come and gone. Eventually, the island was discovered and probably bought by some millionare, maybe even turned into a mini-mall. But every once in a while, you could hear the distant strumming of a guitar, or perhaps laughing. Sometimes even gunshots. But no one ever forgot the doomed destination of Oceanic Flight 815.

* * *

**_A/N- In case you're wondering why the ship sent a flare, it was to signal that they were coming, not acknowleging the horn._**

**_wink Hope you liked it!_**


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